"Author of the Month" is a new feature that I have recently created to honour my favourite authors who have written some of the best books I have ever read.

This feature will:

Run for the entire month.

On every Sunday of the month (excluding the first week where I will have a blog post introducing and interviewing the author), there will be a blog post dedicated to the author. The content of the blog post is entirely up to the author's choice.

For the entire month of February, I am proud to feature Laxmi Hariharan, author of the best-selling The Destiny of Shaitan (Bombay Chronicles #1) as Dreamland Teenage Fantasy's author of the month! Laxmi has been a wonderful and humble person to talk with and I am honoured to have the chance to interview her personally besides reading and reviewing her book - Many Lives of Ruby Iyer (read review here).

Without further ado,

A near life experience told Laxmi Hariharan to write. She never stopped. Laxmi is the creator of Ruby Iyer, and the Amazon bestselling, eLit Gold winner The Destiny of Shaitan (Bombay Chronicles, 1). She has been a journalist with the Independent, and a global marketer with NBCU and MTV. Laxmi also blogs for Huffington Post, among others. London is where she writes. Bombay is what fires her imagination. Reach her @laxmi | Facebook | blog

The Many Lives of Ruby Iyer is published by Amazon White Glove, through Jacaranda Literary Agency, and paperback is distributed in India through Read Out Loud.

For this Sunday's feature, I am honoured to have the chance to sit down and conduct an exclusive interview with the two new "celebrities" I'm currently obsessed with - Vikram and Ruby!

Hi Vikram and Ruby! I am super ecstatic to
have you here with me today, you must have realize by now how much I adore both
of you!

Ruby Iyer aka Angry Young Girl, trying to
save her city from being destroyed... while pretending to be impervious to
Vikram's dark charms. How long can she fight the attraction?

Vikram Roy aka cool sexy cop on the run
from his past... Until, he teams up with Ruby to save the city her loves. Can't
figure out if he is Ruby's baby-sitter or lover.

Without further ado, let’s start off with
the grueling questions, would want to get them out of the way first won’t we
*laughs awkwardly*

“Ruby,
when I was reading about your life risking adventures, I’ve noticed that you
have come a long way from the person you were before the incident. How do you personally feel about the change?”

I
guess I feel a little older, but none-the-less wiser. It's just that now, I don't
hesitate to follow my heart, do what I want to do. Life's too short you know,
to tiptoe around the edges.

“Vikram
and Ruby, if you had to choose one memorable moment throughout your experience,
which one would it be and why?”

Vikram:
"Ladies first"

Ruby:
"You maybe a gentleman but I am no lady, as you well know."

Vikram:
"I insist you first."

Ruby:
"Okay. But if you expect me to say that the most memorable moment in my
life was when I met you... well you are ... wrong." **Smirks, at Vikram** "I think it was waking up on my own in
that hospital room after the accident at the railway station; and wondering
what had happened to me. It felt like I should be elated because I had been
given a new lease of life... But actually, I just wanted to curl up and die.
And yet I knew I had been spared for a reason. I knew I had to my life count
after that. Did I make sense?

Vikram:
"You know Ruby" **he looks at
her with that peculiar look in his eyes which makes me melt. If someone as
dishy as him were to look at me that way, I would be spinning my own Shades of
Grey fantasy, if you know what I mean** "I have no hesitation in
saying that running into you for the first time, in the middle of that bar
fight you were in, was quite something. I think you derailed me."

Ruby:
"You stopped me from kicking his ass!"

Vikram:
"I stopped you from incinerating him. You had beaten him up enough that he
wouldn't have been able to move for days anyway."

Ruby:
Whatever!

Vikram:
Always want the last word too, don’t you.

Ruby:
You said it.

“Ruby,
coming from a broken family you are still able to grow up as such a beautiful
and strong individual, how did you achieve that?”

I
think its because I came from a broken family that I was able to grow up to be
what I am. Every time my parents underestimated me, it just made want to try
harder to surprise them. I think it made me challenge everything, anyone ever
said to me. Perhaps its because I was trying so hard to get their attention,
that I always wanted to try my hand at everything. I think it made me quite
adventurous.

“Now
I am all into romance, not to mention that Valentine’s Day is just around the
corner! With all the dangers and mysteries aside, any plans for the day?”

Ruby
& Vikram at the same: "No Candlelight Dinner"

Vikram
looks at Ruby and says quickly, fast enough to be the first to speak: "For
once we agree."

Ruby,
looking at him eyebrows furrowed: "Hmmm."

Vikram:
"I have plans but it’s a surprise"

Ruby:
"Ha! Takes a lot to surprise me buster."

Vikram
grins. Ruby continues to watch him suspiciously.

“From
what I’ve heard and read, Bombay is a city worth visiting! What are your
favorite places? And if you were to bring your partner for a date, which part
of the city would you definitely go?"

Ruby:
"I hate the city and love it too."

Vikram: "You haven't had an easy time in this
city have you?" He touches her shoulder in sympathy. She doesn’t
acknowledge it.

Ruby:
"No, no I haven't. And that's an understatement."

Vikram:
"But still you must have a favourite spot in the city no?"

Ruby:
"Can you guess?" She looks at him, a challenging tone coming into her
voice.

Vikram:
"God! All you girls are the same. I never could read the female mind, and
I am not going to start now."

Ruby:
"Hey, don't group me in with the other girls. I am nothing like
them."

Vikram
says in a placating tone: "I didn’t mean it that way..." His voice
tapers off

“This
is a question I am dying to ask! I am a really huge softy for romance and the chemistry
between both of you, electrifying! How do you view each other? What qualities
both of you like about your relationship?”

Ruby:
"When I first met him, I thought he was really oooold!" She grins

Vikram:
"I am ancient, decrepit compared to your youth." He grins back at
her... Something passes between them; I
swear if I had a cigarette, I could have lit it from the sparks flying between
them.

"And now?" His face sobers up and his voice turns serious

Ruby
(looking at me): "Now? Now, I just think he is old and boring." She laughs,

Vikram
hits her playfully on the back, before his arm settles around her shoulders.
She doesn't push it away.

“Vikram,
from what I understand you are an educated fine young man *swoons*, but I am
baffled by what drove you to become a cop and to turn it into a lifelong
profession?”

"You
know Nat, it’s a good question. He looks into the distance, considering his
reply. My family was in danger and I had to come home. That's what brought me
back and not willingly. I could have lived my life out first in Oxford and then
in London, become a lawyer like I had planned to be. But then... Then I
couldn't ignore what was happening back home. I couldn't save my family... So I
had to stay to at least save my city."

“If
you never met Ruby or embarked on this dangerous adventure to save Bombay, how
do you envisioned your life would be right now?”

Vikram:
"I would have been much happier if I hadn't met Ruby... Obviously!"
Laughs

Ruby
punches him in the side. He pretends to flinch "Ouch!" He looks at
her. " You know you can lay me low, with just a smile don’t you?"

She
leans over and brushes her lips over his.

(I
think its time for me to leave.)

Thank you for being my special guests
today! Both of you were radiating throughout the interview, do I hear wedding
bells ringing soon? Unfortunately that’s all the time we have today, thank you
for coming and-

OMG! There’s Pankaj!

Pankaj: aka the boy who never fit in with
his family and friends, because he had a secret he felt compelled to keep
without revealing for most of his life... till he met Ruby and found someone he
could confide in without being judged.

“Hi
Pankaj!! I just have to interview you! Do you know you are one of the most
awesome people I’ve read about? Your friendship with Ruby is so easygoing and
real that I can’t help but admire that, but here is the moment of truth, what
are your thoughts of Ruby, and do you have any funny stories about both of you
that you have in store to share with us today?”

"Well
you know Nat, Ruby rescued me from being mugged and beaten up and for that I
will always be grateful to her. But more than that... she is my pillar of
strength. I can tell her what's on my mind, without fear of being judged. I
love that about her. I do worry about her though, because especially since her
'accident' she has been even more out there. Like totally getting into crazy
situations without worrying about the consequences. Like this one time, she and
I are walking back home at night and find a group of kids are drunk and yelling
at each other. I can see a fight is about to break out, and want to take
another route, bypass them completely. But Ruby being Ruby," he shakes his
head as if he still can’t believe it "Well Ruby of course refuses to be
cowed down, and insists on walking right past them. Thankfully, they didn't
really pay us any attention. Else it would have simply added one more to the
list of scars she has."

“I've never read much about you when you were captured and kidnapped by Dr. Braganza,
I'm sorry for reliving the past but what was it like? I can only imagined how
terrifying it would be.”

"That
woman is vicious I tell you!" His normally calm voice rises to a shrill
tone "I have never hated anyone as much I have done her. She is singly
responsible for the destruction of everything I have ever held dear in my life.
But," He brings himself back under control "But, we'll get the better
of her. Me and Ruby... and Vikram" he adds.

I was so pleased to be given the insight on their adventures! I would like to thank Vikram, Ruby and Pankaj for taking the time to entertain the never ending inquires of a fangirl and also to Laxmi and Ritesh who have been a great help!

To show her support for the feature, Laxmi has agreed to giveaway 3 ebook copies of The Many Lives of Ruby Iyer to 3 lucky winners! Thank you for the generosity and humbleness!

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About me

Avid reader, daydreamer and stalker of anything romance! I have a long list of fictional boyfriends, love photographing books and being buried underneath my TBR pile. While I'm not fangirling over my latest conquest, you can stalk me on Pinterest where I spent way too much time saving "motivational quotes".

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